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Eastern League “closing in” on announcement of Richmond’s new baseball franchise
Posted by: | CommentsBy John O’Connor
Originally published on TimesDispatch.com, full article found here.
Published: July 21, 2009
Behind-the-scenes work apparently has already started as The Diamond readies for Richmond’s next professional baseball team. Sources said it will be the Class AA franchise now based in Connecticut.
Those involved with the relocation process have been told by Minor League Baseball and the Eastern League not to comment publicly on the move until it is formally announced, Eastern League President Joe McEacharn said.
Renovation of The Diamond’s executive offices will be a priority following an announcement of franchise relocation for next season. McEacharn said yesterday that “the people who we anticipate coming down there are actively involved” in making arrangements for computer service, phone service and other business necessities in The Diamond’s front office.
“It is my understanding that there have been some contacts relative to doing some things, carpet, [phone and computer] hook-ups and things like that,” said Mike Berry, general manager of the Richmond Metropolitan Authority, which owns and operates The Diamond.
McEacharn reiterated that Richmond’s new franchise and its ownership group will be announced by Aug. 1. He chose not to reveal the franchise or ownership team yesterday and said the announcement is “unlikely” this week. “We’re closing in,” McEacharn said. “We’re dotting I’s and crossing T’s and all that stuff. We don’t have anything to announce yet, but we continue to work toward that.”
The Connecticut franchise will move to Richmond with Lou DiBella remaining as managing partner, said sources, and with a management team involving Chuck Domino, president of the Class AA Reading franchise (Philadelphia Phillies) and the Class AAA Lehigh Valley franchise (Philadelphia Phillies). Domino, who has worked in professional baseball for 27 years, was Reading’s general manager 1988-2006. He won several national awards for franchise management.
Connecticut has been an Eastern League member since 1995. The franchise is contractually bound to be the San Francisco Giants’ Class AA affiliate through next season. A local ownership group, Richmond Baseball Club LC, in May failed to meet the purchase price of $15.4 million for that franchise.
“We will wait for Minor League Baseball to assign the region a team, and then that team will sit down with the RMA and enter into a lease agreement,” said James L. Jenkins, chairman of the RMA’s board of directors. “Then the process will go forward with an initial refurbishing of The Diamond.”
The Diamond’s refurbishment would be an upgrade to make it usable for at least the next two seasons. A long-term ballpark solution has not yet been determined. Peter Kirk’s Opening Day Partners submitted a $28 million plan for a transformation of The Diamond in early June to city and county officials. Kirk yesterday said he has not heard from those officials.
McEacharn said that Minor League Baseball and the Eastern League have agreed on the franchise to be relocated to Richmond but “there are always a whole bunch of legal [issues] to work through . . . We have a plan and we’re trying to finalize that plan. And we always have contingencies.”
Connecticut was one of a few Eastern League franchises that expressed an interest in relocating to Richmond, sources said. Jenkins said seven groups toured The Diamond. That number includes representatives of franchises that were interested in relocation as well as members of potential ownership groups.
R-Braves fans still finds ways to get baseball fix
Posted by: | Comments
Originally published in TimesDispatch.com, with full article HERE.
By John O’Connor
Published: July 12, 2009
They arrived at The Diamond about 90 minutes before the first pitches of Richmond Braves’ games. To the edges of the dugouts they gravitated for autographs and chats with players after batting practice.
A half-dozen or so Diamond die-hards, almost all season-ticket holders, would then take their seats in the last couple of rows in the lower deck, behind home plate, and talk. About their kids. About the weather. About corked bats or wine corks. About where a new ballpark should go, or if Richmond really needs one. (…read more here).
Eastern League planning to take Richmond by storm
Posted by: | CommentsBy John O’Connor
Published: July 8, 2009 on TimesDispatch.com, original article HERE.
Professional baseball won’t return to Richmond until next year, but its presence apparently will be noticeable starting next month.
Minor League Baseball and the Eastern League plan to assign a Class AA franchise to Richmond before Aug. 1. When that happens, “somebody is going to go in there and somebody is going to take Richmond by storm,” Joe McEacharn, the Eastern League president, said yesterday.
He projects a public-awareness campaign, including a name-the-team contest, and the start of work in excess of $1 million that will upgrade The Diamond for at least the next couple of years of use by the new team. McEacharn added that he expects the new franchise will have representatives in town conducting business soon after Minor League Baseball approves a relocation application.
McEacharn said no relocation application had been filed and the league has not formally determined which of its 12 franchises will move to Richmond next season. The most likely candidate remains Connecticut, contractually bound to be the San Francisco Giants’ Class AA affiliate through next season.
McEacharn said it is possible, though demanding, for the franchise to continue business in its current locale through the remainder of this season and also activate in Richmond. The regular season closes in early September.
“It’s difficult and it’s expensive. This is a long-term venture. We are not thinking short-term. I’d like to think that the Eastern League is making a big commitment, and [the franchise] is making an even bigger commitment,” he said.
“We’re already six months behind schedule. I think we’ve got about nine months to opening day. If you delay things another month, that’s more than 10 percent, and when you’re already behind schedule, every day counts.”
Diradour still swinging for baseball at The Diamond
Posted by: | CommentsBy John O’Connor for the Richmond Times-Dispatch, originally published HERE.
Published: July 3, 2009
A man approached Charlie Diradour and shook his hand outside The Diamond yesterday.
“Keep up the good work, Charlie,” he said.
Replied Diradour: “Thank you very much for coming out.”
Diradour, who arranged the appearance to announce the launching of his revamped Web site, looked as if a politician were the centerpiece. Diradour is not a politician — at least not yet.
Diradour, 45, a graduate of Trinity Episcopal School and Virginia Commonwealth University, began a public crusade to keep baseball on the Boulevard soon after the Shockoe Center proposal was released in October. Yesterday, he reiterated his belief that a transformation of The Diamond is the most sensible fiscal measure.
In so doing, Diradour re-raised the question that surfaces each time he makes the pitch: What is this guy’s motivation?
Diradour owns and operates a local real estate development firm that mainly deals with properties in Richmond’s Fan District. “I want this known far and wide,” he said. “I have no interests along the Boulevard corridor.”
He said he endorses the Boulevard location because a ballpark is already there with good access and parking.
Diradour said he opposed the Shockoe Center proposal “to make sure the citizens’ tax dollars weren’t mishandled.” That proposal was withdrawn last week. Yesterday, he emphasized the need for Richmond-area residents, regardless of ballpark-site preference, to embrace the Double-A franchise set to come next season.
“This is not some self-aggrandizement setting up for doing anything,” Diradour said. “This is pure. And people have responded to it.”
Diradour says he was in a barbershop a few days ago, and a couple of men there praised his support of The Diamond. They told him he needed to take his common-sense approach into government.
“Do I? Or am I more effective doing it this way?” Diradour said. “That’s a question I’m wrestling with right now.”
Yesterday, Diradour beseeched the city administration to at least meet with Peter Kirk, the chairman of Opening Day Partners, who early last month submitted to area officials a $28 million proposal to transform The Diamond.
Kirk’s plan would remove the roof and the upper deck, expand the lower bowl, add a berm, a play area (with bumper boats, a carousel and skateboard park) and a conference center. New retail would be built adjacent to the stadium.
Kirk has not heard from area leaders about setting up a meeting.
“Economically at this time in this country’s history, it makes even more sense now to use adaptive reuse technologies to bring this site back to life,” Diradour said of The Diamond.
Diradour was a supporter of the unsuccessful campaign for Richmond mayor by William J. Pantele, a former City Council president. Yesterday, Pantele stopped by The Diamond to support Diradour.
Pantele called Kirk “brilliant” and said attendance dropped during the Richmond Braves’ final few years not because of the stadium or its location, but because of “poor management of the facility and a lack of promotion.”
Diradour Launches New Site, Calls for Unity
Posted by: | CommentsJuly 2nd, 2009 – Richmond, VA
Charlie Diradour launched new site, called for unity at a press conference Thursday morning.
Charlie Diradour held a press conference on July 2nd, 2009 at The Diamond, Richmond’s historic home for baseball.
A few excerpts from the video linked below:
• Baseball on the Boulevard no longer exists, RIP www.baseballontheboulevard.com
• There’s a NEW site, Friends of Richmond Baseball, to serve as an information hub for citizens of Richmond. This new site will a concise source of information about how YOU can support our new team.
• Outreach to the Eastern League and the new owners
• The new Facebook Group has been launched: Friends of Richmond Baseball
• An invitation to the corporate community to take an active role in welcoming a major new business to the area
• An invitation to civic groups to welcome the new team here
–
“I still believe that The Boulevard is the best and most convenient place for baseball to be played. I now want to see this project that we started in January through to its logical conclusion. I call on the administration to contact Peter Kirk and ask him to come to Richmond to evaluate his plan thoroughly and see if the counties have any interest in an adaptive reuse of this site as he and his partners proposed.”
HD video shot by Josh Jackson, produced by Rocket Pop Media.
WTVR CBS6 • Diradour announces website
Posted by: | CommentsOriginally aired on WTVR CBS6, July 2nd, 2009.
(The random clicks experienced during this video are in the source video by WTVR6)
http://friendsofrichmondbaseball.com/wp-content/video/WTVR-CDiradour-FORB.flv
Opening Day Partners’ plan for the Diamond details
Posted by: | CommentsAlso included is the Opening Day Partners’ Press Release regarding the proposal.
Opening Day Partners • Press Release
Opening Day Partners' Proposal
Baseball debate turning into a full season of speculation
Posted by: | CommentsOriginally printed HERE on richmondbizsense.com, on July 2, 2009 by Al Harris
As soon as it seems dead in the water, the baseball debate in Richmond keeps coming back.
Charlie Diradour extended his hand in peace today to those in the opposite dugout at a news conference he called.
Connecticut, the giant Indian sculpture, looked down over the scene, a thick layer of pollen dusted over its head and shoulders.
“The arguments are over with,” Diradour said to a small audience of reporters gathered in front of the Diamond this morning.
Diradour was an outspoken critic of the downtown stadium plan recently dropped by Highwoods Properties. He founded his own website, BaseballontheBoulevard.com, as an advocacy platform for bringing baseball back to the stadium abandoned last year by the Richmond Braves. Diradour also owns a development company, Lion’s Paw Development,BizRi that is active primarily in the Fan District.
Today he announced he was shutting down the Baseball on the Boulevard site and launching Friends of Richmond Baseball to take its place.
“What I want to do is bring both universes together,” Diradour said.
He invited corporations to post their logo on the site to show support of bringing an Eastern League team to Richmond. He also announced he was shutting down his Facebook group and replacing it with Friends of Richmond Baseball, inviting supporters of the Shockoe Center plan to join as well.
Diradour made it clear he still was personally in support of redeveloping the Diamond, in particular a plan by Maryland-based Opening Day Partners owned by Peter Kirk for $28 million. The company has developed as many as 14 ballparks along the East Coast.
“Peter Kirk sent a plan to the administration,” Diradour said. “I call on the administration to at least call Peter Kirk.”
But that plan could have some competition.
The Times-Dispatch reported today that the Reynolds Packaging Group is pitching their property on the south bank of the James River, directly across from downtown, as a possible site for a new stadium.
The T-D reports that a Reynolds executive “pointed out the property” to Mayor Dwight Jones and other city leaders as a good location for a stadium. Real estate firm CB Richard Ellis is marketing the sale of the 18-acre property.
City officials said no one has proposed to them an official plan to build a stadium at that location.
Residents From Around Region Rally for Baseball Stadium
Posted by: Scott Dickens | Comments (0)By Matt Brooks, originally published HERE on loudounextra.washingtonpost.com
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Following a brief rally in the courtyard in front of the Loudoun County Government Center in Leesburg, dozens of area residents took to the podium in support of a special exception that would allow zoning for the construction of a minor league baseball stadium at the intersection of Routes 28 and 7 in Ashburn.
Sharing childhood memories of baseball games and calling for investment in economic opportunities within the county, those present displayed resounding support, which would continue the process of bringing a new Atlantic League franchise to the area.
“Baseball is about connecting generations,” Former Baltimore Oriole third baseman and Hall of Famer Brooks Robinson said. “I think everyone here probably has a baseball memory.
Robinson greeted local residents, signed autographs and posed for pictures before stepping to the podium to endorse the Virginia Investment Partners’ (VIP) bid to bring baseball to Loudoun. Robinson, along with fellow Hall of Famer and Washington Senator Harmon Killebrew, baseball executives John Horshok and Peter Kirk and Dr. Tom Songster, who worked with the International Special Olympics, make up the Kincora Baseball Advisory Board, which has been an active proponent in the Kincora Stadium project. Robinson is a member of a group that currently owns three of the eight Atlantic League teams.
The Atlantic League is an independent minor league that is unaffiliated with major league ballclubs and lacks standard level classification. But Robinson did not hesitate to suggest the league’s merit and quality of play.
(Read more…)HERE on loudounextra.washingtonpost.com